As the use of portable electronic devices, such as cellular telephones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), notebook computers, and the like becomes more common, so does the number of devices with which such portable electronic devices may communicate.
By way of example, portable electronic devices may communicate with printers, scanners, modems, network ports, other portable electronic devices, and computers. Connections may be established between a portable electronic device and other devices in a variety of ways, including both hard connections (e.g., via wires or cables) and wireless connections.
Wireless connections are typically established by one of a variety of wireless transmission protocols, which are different ways of wirelessly communicating data between remotely located devices. Examples of wireless transmission protocols that are currently in use include WAP (Wireless Application Protocol), GSM (Global System for Mobile communications, which employs 900, 1800, and 1900 MHz radio waves), SMS (Short Message Service) (an addition to GSM that enables text messaging), i-Mode (enables cellular telephone users to access the Internet), BLUETOOTH (which employs short range radio waves in a frequency band at 2.4 GHz), and 822.11a and 822.11b (which employ electromagnetic radiation of 5 GHz and 2.4 GHz, respectively). The ability of a portable electronic device to communicate by one or more of these wireless transmission protocols depends upon the type of wireless transmission protocol by which the communication elements of such devices are configured to communicate.
Conventionally, identifying software for a particular external device has been downloaded into PDA memory through a personal computer (PC). The PDA communicates with the PC when secured within a so-called “cradle” or coupled to another hard connection (e.g., wire), which is, in turn, coupled to a communication port of the PC. As the PDA is “hard-wired” to the PC, software that corresponds to and identifies the external device, as well as any drivers for causing information to be wirelessly conveyed to the external device and initiating operation of the external device, may be downloaded to memory associated with the PDA through the PC.
Alternatively, a PDA user may bring the PDA in proximity to a particular external device with which wireless communication is desired. Upon identifying the type of proximate external device to the PDA, the PDA may receive signals broadcast by the proximate external device to identify that external device and to store information about the identity of that proximate external device. Subsequent use of that external device requires user-selection thereof prior to the wireless transmission of data thereto by the PDA.
As another alternative, software may be downloaded onto memory associated with a PDA, as described above, to enable the PDA to identify, through an infrared (IR) port thereof, a printer that includes an infrared port to which the PDA is brought into close proximity (e.g., one to two feet), and to transmit information to that printer. The usefulness of such software is limited to printers. Moreover, this type of software is not useful for substantially concurrently identifying a plurality of devices with which the PDA may wirelessly communicate. Rather, a PDA user is typically required to locate an external device with which the PDA is to communicate and bring the PDA in proximity to that external device before the software may enable the PDA to identify the external device and before the PDA may establish communication with the external device.
External devices may be identified to cellular telephones that include PDA programming in the same manner described herein with respect to PDAs.
Similar methods have been used to identify particular external devices to other types of portable electronic devices. For example, drivers, typically in the form of software, may be downloaded to memory of notebook computers prior to such a computer recognizing a particular external device with which external communication is desired. Alternatively, a notebook computer may be brought into proximity to a particular external device with which wireless communication is desired. Using the appropriate setup software for that type of external device, the type of external device may be identified to the notebook computer by the user thereof and the notebook computer may receive signals that are broadcast by the proximate external device to identify the same. The identity of that external device may be stored, along with the software drivers for use therewith or information for accessing the appropriate software drivers. Subsequently, when communication with that external device is desired, the user may select the stored identity for that device, then cause data to be transmitted thereto.
Each of these methods requires prior identification of each external device with which communication may be established to a portable electronic device. The user of the portable electronic device may then select only from external devices that were previously identified to the portable electronic device, limiting use of the portable electronic device with external devices in new environments.
Many state of the art portable electronic devices, as well as the remote, external electronic devices with which wireless communication may be desired, are equipped with one or more wireless communication components (in place of or in addition to infrared communication ports) that are configured to communicate by way of a wireless transmission protocol type that differs from that employed by conventional IR communication ports.